We are excited to announce this July Alanna Schepartz will join the Department of Chemistry faculty as the T. Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Chair in Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology as a professor.

30 years ago, Berkeley was a much different place. The cost of in-state tuition for undergraduates was less than $1,500 a year, the median rent was $392, and the spaces which now hold Life Sciences Addition and Koshland Hall were UC Berkeley parking lots.

Much like campus buildings and rent prices, molecular biology at Berkeley has transformed immensely since 1989. That year, UC Berkeley consolidated more than 10 departments that focused on aspects of molecular biology and formed the Molecular and Cell Biology department as it is known today. Since then, from the discovery of cellular membrane trafficking to breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapy to the advent of the CRISPR revolution, the people of UC Berkeley MCB have been at the forefront of innovation in biology.

Congratulations to MCB Professors Rebecca Heald and David Raulet for being elected members of the National Academy of Sciences! Members of the National Academy of Sciences are elected in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in their original research.

"In this talk, Raulet describes how these medicines work, their current limitations and the prospects for novel and more effective immunotherapy approaches, including those based on research in his laboratory."

Congratulations to MCB Professor Kristin Scott for being elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences! Scott studies the taste system in fruit flies to understand how sensory information is processed by the brain and linked to behavior.

Congratulations to MCB Professor & Senior Associate Dean of Biological Sciences Richard Harland, who is a newly elected Fellow of The Royal Society of London! Harland is a pioneer in the field of developmental biology whose major contributions to the field include understanding dorsal ventral patterning of the early embryo and the induction and patterning of the neural plate.

On April 11, the MCB Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) Spring 2019 Symposium brought together industry and academia to offer UC Berkeley scientists at all career stages an opportunity to build direct connections with nine innovative biotechnology companies. The event was a great success, drawing students and postdoctoral scholars from several departments on campus including MCB, IB, Bioengineering, Biophysics, and Comparative Biochemistry. Continue reading >

New research from Assistant Professor of MCB & Physics Hernan Garcia and scientists at New York University characterizes how the pioneer factor Zelda affects a gene's transcriptional output by enriching Dorsal protein activity at enhancer regions of Drosophila DNA during gene activation.

This finding "uncovers the physical parameters that affect gene activation, thus pushing forward our understanding of how genes are regulated in time and space,” according to NYU Biology Professor Christine Rushlow.

Congratulations to MCB Professor Rebecca Heald, recipient of the 2018–19 Leon A. Henkin Citation for Distinguished Service! This award recognizes faculty with “exceptional commitment to the educational development of students from groups who are underrepresented in the academy.”